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My DVR is set to record this but I won't be able to watch it till next week.

It looks really interesting. There was a recent New York Times article about Liberace' s boyfriend that was fascinating and a bit of a train wreck. Will be interesting to see how they depict the relationship.

I saw a clip of Rob Lowe, who plays the plastic surgeon. They used a lot of tape to pull his face back. He said there were no known pics of the surgeon. I know people didn't take pics like we do today, but you'd think there would be a pic somewhere.

Modified:

Just turned it over to HBO, and first thing was Matt Damon getting out of the jacuzzi and showing his ass.

So, Matt ended up showing his butt several times. Anyway, I didn't remember Liberace that much. I was just a baby. I searched around for some info on him. I found one of his last TV appearances, which was on Oprah. It was recorded in November 1986 and aired on Christmas Day. He died in February 1987. I was surprised he was still out doing performances so soon before his death. It reminded me of some saying they feel fine with 100 t-cells.

Anyway, you can tell this is when Oprah still had a connection to being poor. She is so amazed by all his possessions. The whole hour is all about his material possessions and wealth. She asks him questions about how much money he has. If someone asked her that today, she would think it rude. She models one of his furs. I guess furs weren't yet something to be ashamed. You can tell she is uncomfortable, when he talks about women. Everyone obviously knows he's gay, but you just have to go along with it.

They cut to this video he made of himself playing various pianos around his house. It looked like some SNL skit. I just can't believe so many bought that he was straight.

Watched it on HBO GO. Didn't like it. It lacked something. I'm giving it a C+.

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"I have tried hard--but life is difficult, and I am a very useless person. I can hardly be said to have an independent existence. I was just a screw or a cog in the great machine I called life, and when I dropped out of it I found I was of no use anywhere else."

Here's one of his grand entrances at his show at the Las Vegas Hilton, with his boytoy Scott as the limo driver. I too cannot believe any bought the straight act. Hell, his voice alone screams "Nancy".

Who thought he was straight? My grandma, now in her late 90's, well, when I was a kid in the 60's and 70's, she would just say a little something knowing or make an expression. "Light in the loafers"One time we were watching a Tyrone Power oldie on the tv and she said, you know he was so pretty, such a pretty man. You have to remember up until the 70's there wasn't a agreed upon "gay identity". People understood that someone might be "that way" but you didn't really talk about it. And everyone from a decently sized family, there was a "bachelor uncle", that sort of thing. I have a great aunt who left her husband and lived with with a woman for about a decade. Then she went back to her husband. Everyone sort of knew but you didn't put labels on it.

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“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

It would be nice if Las Vegas got its freaking act together and opened a decent museum about show biz. It was a pity that Liberace's museum closed. There should be an equivalent of the rock n roll hall of fame, for the history of spectaculars, and spectacular entertainers...

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“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

I thought it was great. But Im confused. The Matt Damon butt shots were a different butt than the Matt Damon butt shot from the movie "The Talented Mr. Ripley". One of the two had to have been an extra, if not both. I never forget a butt

I can absolutely believe many of his fans, especially older senior fans, did and still refuse to believe the gay part with Liberace. Heck, even my parents still expect me to get married to a woman someday. Im 59 and my parents are 85. So its not that hard to believe many of his fans would think this was all lies.And the film based on a book by Scott Thorson, no doubt an disgruntled former employee seeking payback and personal fame

I didn't realize the mother was played by Debbie Reynolds until later.And the LV house shots were filmed in Zsa Zsa Gabor's LV home.Liberace's Beverly Hills penthouse scenes were the actual house.The now owner was a big fan of Liberace and allowed them to film in the house.

If true, I'd say Liberace was pretty much messed up, just like the house boy tried to warn Matt Damon in the early part of the film.But if Scott Thorson's character was accurate, then his downfall from Liberace's admirations was Scott Thorson's drug use. Liberace living with someone using drugs like that would no doubt kill off most any relationship.

A damn good cast. A little shocking about the lifestyle, if completely true.I mean, going thru and using up cute guys one by one.

I liked the comparison of Matt Damon's facial expressions looking totally pissed when sitting in the same room while Liberace admired his "new" dancer friend, and the young piano prodigy's having the same facial expressions from earlier in the film when Matt Damon first came into the household. Like, what goes around comes around.

My mother - who was a staunch homophobe - eagerly watched every TV program he appeared on. She used to say "He's such a fantastic entertainer - wish he wasn't such a milquetoast." (her term for gay men)

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

I thought it seemed more like a Lifetime movie, than an HBO film. It just seemed they didn't develop the story well. Scott is suddenly doing drugs and Liberace keeps saying the drugs are making him out of control, but we don't see someone out of control, really.

Rob Lowe's portrayal of the doc did seem like an SNL sketch. But, some people behave like a comedy sketch, so maybe it was accurate. And, unless Liberace went from feeling fine to dying, I thought they would have portrayed him starting to not feel as good as before-- all the things most experience during their course of infection. Even though he was still performing and on Oprah just two months before his death, I am sure he would have had things happening that caused him to see a doc. Maybe nothing was known about that to portray it. The virus was just an ending mention.

I suppose you know, that Liberace's Las Vegas home in the film is actually Zsa Zsa Gabor's Bel Air mansion. Liberace's Las Vegas house in foreclosure, "in ruins" today, according to the YouTube video maker. Liberace's house considerably less grand than Zsa Zsa's. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMIzUShO-fA

And Soderbergh really glitzed up the interior. Actually most of the rooms in the film, are sets.

There's a modest Girosole Barovier chandelier in one of the set design rooms. I've craved one of these for years now. This style from the 40's to the 60'sIt's an impossible dream, as they are about 10-20K in Switzerland. I looked on Ebay italy and it seems they can be found for about a 1000, with a bit of scratching around forgotten, unfashionable towns there. I don't think they were rare or outrageously luxurious at the time, but now they are highly coveted in the design set.There are some enormous ones in the palace hotels along Lake Geneva, surely installed years and years ago.

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“From each, according to his ability; to each, according to his need” 1875 K Marx

So this guy (Scott Thorson) claims he's bi, never did much sex with Liberace, only does oral with men, had an affair with Michael Jackson, and several famous women. He is either really full of the bull, or ?Im surprised Liberace put up with him as long as he did.On the Howard Stern show, he sounds like he still has a pretty bad drug problem. Had a hard time maintaining, focusing or following through on a thought.The weird thing is, he does look like Liberace or Liberace's close relative.In many cases people have their likeness preserved thru their offspring or siblings.In this case, plastic surgery?

I've watched the HBO special about 8 times now. Its my new favorite campy film besides the original THE BAD SEED.